diff --git a/fs/nfs/client.c b/fs/nfs/client.c
index 280d41f6..d5c5bdf 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/client.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/client.c
@@ -1453,6 +1453,10 @@
 	BUG_ON(!server->nfs_client->rpc_ops);
 	BUG_ON(!server->nfs_client->rpc_ops->file_inode_ops);
 
+	/* data servers support only a subset of NFSv4.1 */
+	if (is_ds_only_client(server->nfs_client))
+		return -EPROTONOSUPPORT;
+
 	fattr = nfs_alloc_fattr();
 	if (fattr == NULL)
 		return -ENOMEM;